Hot Topics:

Dear Everyone: Get off Tiger's back

Alamogordo Daily NewsBy Kyle Newman Sports Writer

Posted:
05/17/2013 08:56:22 PM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

In this artistic rendering, Tiger Woods celebrates after sinking a putt to seal his playoff victory in the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines. Woods, though still the most closely followed player in golf, has faced intense scruitiny since his fated car crash in November of 2009.

Then, on one ill-fated November night in 2009, it all fell apart for Tiger Woods.

And many -- fans, fellow players, the blood-lusting media -- took great pleasure in tearing down the hero we had built up over 14 major championship victories.

Even in the wake of his rebound from the sex-scandal that caused him to undergo a leave of absence from the game and tarnished his public image, Tiger still takes more heat than he deserves.

Can't we all just sit back, relax and enjoy watching the greatest golfer of all time play the game without jumping at every opportunity to criticize, to nit-pick, to take any and all cheap shots we can get?

Granted, Tiger is not perfect. Not even close. Numerous models and cocktail waitresses have already attested to that in the tabloids, as has the video footage of his illegal drop at this year's Masters.

But there's something to be said about how our society, fueled by the media's hunger for any and all stories relating to Tiger, has shown a startling proclivity to lambaste the icon that single-handedly made golf relevant in the modern age.

Let's start with the spat between Tiger and Sergio Garcia at the Players Championship last week. Garcia blamed Tiger for a commotion that caused Garcia to hit a bad shot, leading the Spaniard to proclaim, "He's not the nicest guy on tour.

Advertisement

"

This tiff later resulted in Players marshal John North remarking that Tiger "lacked character" for saying marshals had told him Garcia already hit when he made the crowd roar by pulling a wood from his bag, thus distracting Garcia's approach.

North said marshals didn't tell Tiger anything, essentially calling the No. 1 golfer in the world a liar. (Two other Players marshals contradicted North's account, saying that Tiger was told Garcia had hit).

It's this kind of "He said, She said" drama that's indicative of people's quick trigger-finger when it comes to criticizing Tiger. He is consistently held to a standard that no mortal human being can possibly live up to. No other athlete on the planet, minus LeBron James, is under more scrutiny than Tiger is every time he steps out on the course.

Rocco Mediate, whom Tiger beat in his dramatic 2008 U.S. Open playoff victory, also had some interesting comments on Tiger lately.

Appearing on the Feherty Show on the Golf Channel, Mediate described how he left a note with a photograph and a pin sheet in Tiger's locker during the 2009 U.S. Open. The note asked Tiger to sign the pieces and include a personalized quote for Mediate about their battle the year before at Torrey Pines.

Instead, Tiger simply autographed the picture. Mediate was apparently so insulted by Tiger's lack of personal touch that he threw the photo in the trash.

"Why wouldn't he... just mess with me, and the sign my pin sheet, so I could put the damn thing on my wall and say, 'I almost got the guy that day,'" Mediate told Feherty.

Of course, Mediate goes on to add that he's still a huge Tiger fan and that "we ain't gonna see this kid come about again," a contradictory sort of sentiment that epitomizes how much of society seems to feel about Tiger as a whole at this point in his career: We love the guy, but we're going to hold him to a standard of perfection. We'll follow him in packs around the golf course, we'll go nuts when he wins, but we'll go even more nuts when he loses, too, because we love to see him fail.

And even when he does win, there's unwarranted controversy surrounding Tiger. After his Players Championship victory last week, a debate raged about whether Tiger dropped his ball in the proper spot after hooking his tee shot into a hazard on the 14th hole of Sunday's final round.

His playing partner that day, Casey Wittenberg -- a man that Tiger was competing against, mind you -- approved Tiger's drop and backed him up in interviews after the round, yet no one is questioning Wittenberg's integrity. Thus, it's just another case of the most polarizing figure in golf having to face unwarranted criticism and live up to standards that no other golfer has ever had to live up to, including the likes of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.

At next month's U.S. Open, there's no doubt Tiger will be watched like a hawk. Some TV viewers with DVR capabilities will be sitting on their couches at home, analyzing Tiger's every move in the hopes that they can spot, and then call in, an infraction.

And of course, the expectation of a Tiger victory at Merion Golf Club will headline sports sections and talk shows everywhere. This is rightfully so, because Tiger has the talent to be the frontrunner going into every tournament he enters.

But maybe that's the problem.

Maybe 78 tour victories have the tendency to blind us to the fact that Tiger is a man, not a God Of The Links -- a man that happens to be better with a golf club than anyone before him, but certainly not one who is perfect at his craft or perfect in his life outside of that craft.

Let's just accept that fact, and enjoy watching him play. As Mediate pointed out, there will never be another like him.

Contact Kyle Newman at knewman@alamogordonews.com and follow him on Twitter @KG_Newms